Basketball: Key player on East's glory teams to be honored

Friday

Ed Ratleff doesn't remember what his scoring average was in high school, and not only because it has been 40 years since he played for East.

Ed Ratleff doesn't remember what his scoring average was in high school, and not only because it has been 40 years since he played for East.

Only one statistic matters to Ratleff.

"We were 71-1," he said. "I have no idea what my scoring average was. It's the honest truth. All I knew is whether we won or lost."

Ratleff, along with Bo Lamar, led an East team that is regarded as one of the finest in Ohio history. The 1967-68 and '68-69 Tigers were undefeated state champions in his junior and senior seasons. Ratleff's only loss came in a regional final his sophomore year to a Linden team featuring Jim Cleamons and Skip Young.

Ratleff went on to become an All-American at Long Beach State, an Olympian on the 1972 team that lost the infamous gold-medal game to the Soviet Union and a five-year NBA player.

On Saturday, he will be one of 17 people inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame at the Columbus Convention Center.

"This is a big honor," Ratleff said. "I'm humbled by it."

Former Ohio State guard Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks, Otterbein coach Dick Reynolds, former OSU men's coach Eldon Miller and Pickerington girls coach Dave Butcher are among the central Ohio honorees. The six-time state champion Pickerington girls program will be inducted, as will the LeBron James-led Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary teams.

Ratleff, 59, lives in California, where he owns an insurance office. He tries to make it back to Columbus at least once a year. He returned two years ago when East's team was inducted.

"We were like a family," Ratleff said. "We were very, very close."

Ratleff plans to return in August for his class's 40-year reunion. The realization that it has been that long since he graduated prompted a laugh.